ABOUT

Our community is currently made up of 19 people. We also have many dogs, cats, chickens and goats! We live together in 5 small homes and a dormitory. We often meet together in our community center, celebrating and enjoying our connection with God and with each other. We have many regular activities together, which reflect our values and practices, described here on this page.

Our Purpose

Shepherd’s Home is a community of people called to intentionally strive to live out the values of servant leadership in our relationships with each other (as described in our values), creating an atmosphere where each person can find their passion and come to life. By God’s grace, as we grow in love and humility through these experiences, we seek to share and practice our values with our neighbors, visitors, and those we are individually called to serve.

OUR CORE VALUES AND STRUCTURE

Our core values, around which we act, reflect and make our decisions together, are:

  • Christ-centered.  Our faith in Jesus Christ, including our desire to follow his example and teachings as described in the Bible, is the central foundation on which we define servant leadership and base our values and life together.
  • Community.  We value a connected and inter-dependent life, where each person’s gifts and role are needed and contribute to the whole, and where we are accountable to and responsible for each other.
  • Safety.  We value hospitality, grace, acceptance, authenticity, and understanding in our relationships with each other.
  • Love.  We see people as precious and valuable, so much so, that we share our lives with them.
  • Service.  We strive to show our love by serving those in front of us, listening to them and seeking our mutual growth and healing. We believe we each have the capacity to serve according to our unique purpose, story, gifts, and brokenness.

Based on our core values, the members of Shepherd’s Home make decisions together within a structure that includes a Leadership Team (which includes the SEC-required Board of Trustees) and an Oversight Board.

OUR CORE PRACTICES

We engage in activities together as a community that reflect our core practices:

  • Inner and Outer Journey.  We recognize that an authentic outer journey of service comes from an inner journey of connection to God through prayer and spiritual disciplines. We value personal and corporate inner journey practices that lead us into personal and corporate areas of authentic service.
  • Action and Reflection.  We grow and learn, with the goal of putting on the mind of Christ, through a constant process of action and reflection. Our community values practices that create space for reflection on our actions and activities.
  • Spiritual Formation. We recognize the need to be formed spiritually and we value practices that help us to understand our false self and live into our identity in Christ.
  • Open and Honest Communication.  We value practices that create the space for us to share openly and truthfully with the community what we are thinking and feeling.
  • Unity and Reconciliation.  We value practices that lead people to reconciliation and forgiveness whenever they are hurt or offended.
  • Simplicity.  The community values a lifestyle that is free from pursuits of materialism or excess, and where members share what they have with others.